Sebastian Klüsener, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Date: 17 APRIL 2018 at 11:00
Event location: Aula Seminari, 1st floor, Department of Statistical Science, Via Belle Arti 41, Bologna
Type: Statistics Seminars
Diffusion and adaptation hypotheses play an important role in the debate on the fertility transition: Do couples adopt fertility-controlling strategies mainly in response to new attitudes spreading in societies, or are they predominantly adapting to changing socioeconomic circumstances? While there is strong empirical evidence for the latter, support for the former is frequently weaker as communication processes are more difficult to measure than socioeconomic change. This paper takes an innovative perspective to explore which frequently observed fertility decline patterns across social groups and space could potentially stem from information diffusion. We specify agent-based simulation models in which migration links between regions stratified by social status serve as proxies for communication links. Our models on Sweden and Senegal demonstrate that virtually all major social and spatiotemporal characteristics of the decline that were observed in many countries around the world could stem from communication processes structured by variation in communication links.
Contact person: Francesco Scalone
L’Organizzatore Il Direttore
Prof. Francesco Scalone Prof. Angela Montanari